In Sermon Illustrations: "Prosperity Gospel"

What's Wrong With Slandering Someone?

Contributed by Rev. Matthew Parker on Aug 29, 2014

I was speaking with someone this past week who has spent a great deal of his life travelling around the world, much of it for a mission agency. He spoke of a time when he visited an extremely remote, forested part of India where people live very primitively. He stayed there for a while. This fellow ...read more

Scripture: 2 Peter 1:5-7, 2 Peter 1:5

Tags: Godly Character, Transparency

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Cross Is The Attraction

Contributed by Andrew Moffatt on Sep 8, 2016

The famous first national Salvationist here in Sri Lanka, Arnolis Weerasooriya whose picture we all walk past every day said something about the cross. Can you remember reading it, it is on his picture. That’s right he said, “Cross is the attraction.” He died from cholera some years later on the ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 20:20-28

Tags: Suffering, Enduring Suffering, Proclaiming

Denomination: Salvation Army

Billy Graham's Conversion

Contributed by Richard Tow on Jul 18, 2017

In an interview on October 15, 2013 Billy Graham said, “There are two basic needs that all people have: the need for hope and the need for salvation. It should not be surprising if people believe easily in a God who makes no demands, but this is not the God of the Bible. Satan has cleverly misled ...read more

Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:8-9, Matthew 5:17-18

Tags: Salvation, Repentance, Billy Graham, Easy Believism

Denomination: Charismatic

The Importance Of Preaching

Contributed by David Parks on Aug 27, 2020

March 4, 1881 was a beautiful spring day in Washington D.C. James Garfield stood on the Capitol steps, placed a hand on the Bible, another on his heart, faced a crowd of thousands, and was sworn in as the 20th President of the United States. Like every Inauguration, it was a day ripe with ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:1-5

Tags: Truth, Preaching, Minister

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Why Do You Still Live As A Slave?

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Jan 15, 2023

On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln presented what came to be known as the Emancipation Proclamation, an official document condemning human slavery. Abraham Lincoln, realizing that slavery is completely against human dignity, officially abolished it from the United States on ...read more

Tags: Grace, Holy Spirit, Freedom, Legalism, Racism, Liberty  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Never Alone

Contributed by Jerry Cosper on Feb 13, 2023

I'm not sure if I am the only one that does this or not. Growing up, if I was ever walking down a dark country road by myself, I found myself whistling, or singing, or humming an old familiar gospel song. It seemed like it made everything safer. It made me feel protected as I drew myself ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:9-17

Tags: Alone, God's Presence

Denomination: Baptist

They Will Know What Jesus Looks Like Now

Contributed by Timothy Lueking on Apr 3, 2023

Maybe you have heard the story of a young boy who was given an assignment in his elementary art class. He was asked to draw a picture of something that was priceless to him. He thought about all things he valued and then the idea came to him as to what was most important and valuable. Throughout ...read more

Scripture: John 1:18, 1 John 4:12, 1 Timothy 6:15-16, Mark 16:15

Tags: Image Of God, Share Your Faith

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Dirty Windows

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Jun 12, 2023

"A friend of mine, Bud Wood, founded Shepherds Home in Wisconsin for boys and girls with developmental disabilities. The original ministry opened its doors in 1964 to 36 children, providing them a loving residential environment and a school that would focus on their unique needs, helping them ...read more

Scripture: John 14:1-6, Philippians 3:20, 1 John 3:1-3

Tags: Revelation, Children, Heaven, Second Coming, Rapture, Return Of Christ, Disabled Children  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Churches In Competition Against Each Other

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Aug 5, 2023

Three churches, located on different corners of the same intersection, didn't get along together. One Sunday each of them opened their meeting with a rousing song service. It was a warm day and all the doors and windows were wide open. One congregation began singing the old hymn, "Will ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-7, Philippians 2:5-11

Tags: Critical Spirit, Hymns, Enemies, Division, Church, Worship, Competition, Rivalry  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

When God Opened An Unexpected Door For Cliff Barrows

Contributed by Garris Hudson on Nov 10, 2024

Dr. James Dobson wrote a book entitled When God Doesn’t Make Sense, and, in his book, he shared an illustration that is very applicable to the point being drawn from this particular verse. Take a moment and reflect upon the following story: In 1945, a young associate pastor named Cliff married his ...read more

Tags: Will Of God, Call To Ministry, Open Doors, Sovereignty Of God

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

How Can We Know That We Are Truly Saved

Contributed by Hylton Davidson on Aug 13, 2025

Having assurance that one is saved is linked to the process called regeneration. Regeneration is not something a person initiates; it is a sovereign act of God. A person is born again when the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual life, enabling them to repent and believe in the gospel. This transformation ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-9

Tags: Assurance, Saved

Denomination: Christian Church

A Comfortable Emptiness!

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Jun 2, 2005

A Comfortable Emptiness! On a faded scroll framed in mahogany and hung in the hallway of an old farmhouse I chanced many years ago to read what then, in my youth, seemed important but now many years later is ingrained in my heart as one of the most profound and impacting statements I have ever ...read more

Scripture: Deuteronomy 12:12-18

Tags: Children, Parenting

Denomination: Lutheran

Ruby Was Born In The Delta Region Of The ...

Contributed by Jeremy Houck on Sep 10, 2005

Ruby was born in the Delta region of the Mississippi River in 1954. Also in 1954 the Supreme Court heard a case called Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education. After the arguments were made, the high court ruled that separate but equal education for blacks and whites while it was separate it was in no ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness For Others

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

God's ...

Contributed by Todd Leupold on Aug 4, 2008

GOD’S GARDEN Things that compete with peace are like the weeds competing with your flowers to dominate the space, nutrients, sunlight, water and character of your garden or lawn. Weeds so easily spread, multiply and thrive because they are at their best when they are most shallow. You see, most ...read more

Tags: Peace

Denomination: Baptist

Keep Waiting

Contributed by Warner Pidgeon on Oct 20, 2010

There’s a story from the 1800’s of a young couple, William & Elizabeth, madly in love, and engaged to be married. Elizabeth enjoys planning for their future. William on the other hand knows that it’s only a matter of time before he is called away to sea to fight various enemies in far-off lands. ...read more

Tags: Second Coming

Denomination: Anglican

Corrie Ten Boom

Contributed by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr on Nov 28, 2025

Corrie Ten Boom was a Jew that worked with the underground resistance against Hilter. 6 million died. Corrie, her dad Caspar and sister, BETSY were arrested. They were taken into captivity by the Germans in the Jewish Death Camps. Corrie and her sister were captives. In her book THE HIDING PLACE, ...read more

Scripture: Job 42:10, Matthew 11:28-30

Tags: Faith, Plan, Trust

Denomination: Assembly Of God

We Had An Experience Just This Week Of God ...  PRO

Contributed by David Haun on Dec 21, 2003

We had an experience just this week of God stepping in when a call is given. The miracle started about two weeks ago when I "accidentally" came across an account of a new movie showing in selected theaters. The movie was reviewed as one of the best in recent years and was titled "The Gospel of ...read more

Tags: Faith General

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Like Blind Beggars! (08.15.05--Envy!--John 21: ...  PRO

Contributed by Mark Brunner on Aug 11, 2005

Like Blind Beggars! (08.15.05--Envy!--John 21: 20-23) “No one has done a better job of portraying envy than Dante, In his Purgatory . . .the envious sit like blind beggars by a wall. Their eyelids are sewn shut. the symbolism is apt, showing the reader that it is one of the blindest sins--partly ...read more

Scripture: John 21:20-23

Tags: Envy

Denomination: Lutheran

The Story Of This Song, Oh Holy Night, Began In ...

Contributed by K. Edward Skidmore on Dec 23, 2008

The story of this song, Oh Holy Night, began in the 1840’s in France when a Priest asked a poet named Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure to write a poem for Christmas Mass. Cappeau composed this poem while he was in a carriage on the road to France … and that he titled Cantique de Noel. Cappeau was ...read more

Tags: Music

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

True ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jul 10, 2009

TRUE WORSHIP I want to read to you an excerpt from James Montgomery Boice’s book, "Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?" to preface my opening statements. This is from his chapter entitled, "Reforming Our Worship". In it he cites two sources from which he got his information. I cite my ...read more

Scripture: John 4:23-24

Tags: Worship, Worship Definition